A need exists for an easily produced, inexpensive, but highly durable baseball swing training device that provides attention to hand placement on a baseball bat and improves the athlete's hip motion and builds up muscle strength in the hips. Although reference is made throughout this document to training for baseball and swinging a baseball bat, it will be appreciated that the same concepts apply equally and can be used for softball players learning to swing a softball bat (and furthermore, it is deemed that a softball bat and a baseball bat are the same item in accordance with this disclosure).
There are at least some conventional sports swing trainers available on the market for teaching a user how to properly swing a piece of sports equipment, such as a golf club. For example, a golf swing position trainer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,800,036. This position trainer helps a golfer become more consistent and proper in form when performing backswings in the game of golf. Although such a position trainer is helpful for users who want to become better at the sport of golf, this trainer is not helpful when trying to teach similar concepts for the sport of baseball. A proper baseball swing requires detailed attention to hand placement on the baseball bat, the initial positioning of the bat relative to the user's body, as well as a swinging motion driven initially by the user's hips instead of the arms, which is contrary to the largely wrist and arm-driven initial motion of a golf backswing.
In addition, the golf swing position trainer of the patent referenced above must be manufactured and specifically tailored to a particular user because the rigid shape and size of this trainer will not work for users having different body sizes and proportions. This custom tailoring and manufacturing increases the cost of the device to a level that is not acceptable for many consumers who play these sports as a side hobby or activity. Furthermore, even when considering baseball training devices and aids, many of the products available on the market focus more on providing a consistent target to hit for a baseball player than improving the actual mechanics of the swing itself.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a device for training a user how to swing a baseball bat that is easily manufactured and inexpensive, while also being simple to use and adjustable so that multiple users can learn to swing a baseball bat with a single device. The embodiments of the invention described below are considered to meet these needs in the marketplace.